Ageless Watson in the hunt at Senior PGA

Steve Walentik

Friday

May 24, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 24, 2013 at 1:00 PM

TOWN & COUNTRY — Golf fans were treated to the familiar sight of long putt after long putt finding their way into the cup off the flat side of Tom Watson's putter during the opening round of the Senior PGA Championship.

That 20-footer he knocked in to save par on the 10th hole — his first — at Bellerive Country Club stirred memories of a putt he made on the 72nd hole of the 1975 British Open to set off a playoff he won the next day at Carnoustie for his first major title.

The 30-footer he hit from the front edge of the green on No. 18 recalled a lengthy putt he dropped on the 17th hole at Augusta National to snap a tie with Jack Nicklaus and position him for victory at the 1977 Masters, one of his most famous triumphs.

Watson, in his heyday, slipped three or four such putts into his better rounds, and he did so again yesterday, making birdie tries from beyond 15 feet at Nos. 3, 4 and 7.

"I made some bombs today," said the Kansas City native, who shot a 2-under-par 69. "It was kind of like the Watson of old."

Old is a word that loses meaning around the 63-year-old Watson. In a game that's getting younger by the minute, no one has figured out how to defy time quite like Watson, a four-time Missouri State Amateur champion who turned pro in 1971, won the Western Open for his first Tour title in 1974, topped the PGA Tour money list five times between 1977-84, won eight major championships and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1988.

It was only four years ago that he stood over a par putt on the 18th green at Turnberry that would have given him the title in the British Open. He became the second-oldest player to win the Senior PGA Championship two years later. And thanks to his hot putter, particularly over his last nine holes, Watson was in the hunt again yesterday.

"I had those 20- and 30-footers for pars and had a couple 30-footers for birdies and turned a 74 into a 69," said Watson, who was among a group of 12 players tied for seventh, three shots off the lead, on a day when he hit into nine bunkers.

Jay Haas, 59, set the early pace with a bogey-free round of 66 on a cool, overcast day that turned unexpectedly damp in the afternoon with light rain. Haas, a native of Belleville, Ill., who makes his home in Greenville, S.C., was the man closest in age to Watson near the top of a leaderboard dominated by men in their early 50s.

"For a lot of people, age is a factor," said Duffy Waldorf, who tied Haas for the opening-round lead in his first full season on the Champions Tour after turning 50 in August. "For some of us, age is just a number, and I think for Tom Watson it's just a number."

Many of the guys he dueled in his prime — such as Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd — have stopped playing competitive golf. Younger players Fred Couples and Nick Price had to pull out of this week's tournament because of injuries. But Watson, who's been named the captain of the U.S. team that will try to retake the Ryder Cup next year, keeps on going.

Watson is simply a marvel.

Spectators tried to catch a glimpse of him as he made his way around the course with the always colorful Peter Jacobsen and club pro Bud Lintelman, a late addition to the group after Steve Elkington pulled out with a migraine headache yesterday morning.

Among them for parts of the round was Gov. Jay Nixon, who saw Watson roll in a birdie putt on the par-4 11th to get into red numbers. Nixon did not see him miss the green right and two-putt for bogey on No. 12 or his struggles to get birdie chances to drop the rest of his first nine holes. But Watson, buoyed by that par-saving putt at No. 18, got heated up on the front nine with back-to-back birdies at 3 and 4 to get to 2 under right before Nixon rejoined his gallery.

There was a setback at the 195-yard, par-3 sixth when Watson bent his tee shot too far left and failed to get up-and-down. But it proved only temporary as Watson rolled in another birdie putt on the par-4 seventh, setting off a few screams of approval in the crowd.

Watson nearly ignited a few more roars on his way back to the clubhouse. He came within inches of a birdie from the bunker on the par-5 eighth before tapping in for par. Then after driving his tee shot into a bunker on the third straight hole and blasting an iron up the hill to about 6 feet past the hole, Watson left one more birdie chance hanging above the lip on No. 9.

He wasn't complaining.

"I feel very lucky," he said. "You don't expect to make the types of putts that I made today. I hope my ball-striking gets a little bit more consistent and that I don't leave myself with 30-footers for pars."

This article was published in the Friday, May 24, 2013 edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline "There's still some magic in Watson's putter: Kansas City native gets himself out of jams at Senior PGA."

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